A surprising amount of New Jerseyans speak more than one language

Hola! Me llamo Kylie!

That is pretty much the extent of what I remember from taking *checks notes* five years of Spanish classes between elementary school and middle school.

Nothing against my teachers, they were great, I just wasn’t the best student.

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Kylie!

My three years of French in high school were awesome. I can’t speak highly enough about the teacher I had for my freshman and junior years.

Could I get by in a casual conversation with a native French speaker?

Sacré bleu! No!

The only other language class I took was American Sign Language, and that doesn’t quite translate well when typing. I did love learning it, though.

Read More: Are New Jersey schools leaving out cultures in the curriculum?

New Jerseyans speaking another language

All that to say: I was so impressed to learn the number of New Jerseyans who are able to speak a language other than English.

According to the latest Census figures, New Jersey is ranked third in the U.S. for the highest percentage of people who speak another language.

That’s downright impressive to me, though we’re so diverse in the Garden State that it shouldn’t be surprising.

We were topped only by California and Texas.

One in three New Jerseyans (ages five and over) claims to be bilingual. That’s over three million of us.

When does the language have an entirely different alphabet from ours? I pretty much need to go into the fetal position.

I’ve always been so jealous of people who, whether out of curiosity or necessity, were able to learn a second language. To me, it’s the closest thing a human can have that’s a superpower.

Thank you for reading! Gracias! Merci! Arigatō!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kylie Moore. Any opinions expressed are Kylie's own. You can follow Kylie on Instagram.

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